Samarinda, East Kalimantan - The East Kalimantan provincial government has planned to plant 17.5 million trees of various kinds to support Kaltim Green policy.

"To reach the target of Kaltim Green policy, 14 districts/municipalities in the province have been encouraged to support it," Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said here on Monday.

Awang said the effort to involve 14 districts/municipalities in the policy was made symbolically by inviting all district heads to Sempaja sport stadium in Samarida over the weekend.

The governor said that since the Kaltim Green policy was declared at Kaltim summit on January 7, 2010, around 14.8 million trees of various kinds have been planted across the province.

With the Kaltim Green policy, the governor said that the effort to make East Kalimantan a green province could be realized.

He expressed hope that the Kaltim Green policy would be the starting point for environmentally oriented sustainable development.

"Uncontrollable development has so far changed the appearance of our environment," the governor said.

He said the tree planting activity was conducted simultaneously at 14 districts/municipalities and at Unmul botanical garden in Samarinda.

"What we are doing is not merely for us but for our children`s children in the next 20 years by providing them with oxygen from the trees that we are planting today," the governor said.